IXTRODUCTION. xi 



to them being out of projMrtion greater tlian the additional expense rendered 

 necessary by the course adopted. 



Attention is called to the style and execution of the illustrations of the 

 present volume : these are believed to have solved a difficult problem, namely, 

 that of furnishing the means of identifying the species, without making the 

 work \-ery bulky and expensive. The plan here adopted of giving as far as 

 possilJe life-size figures of the heads of each species, and small full-lengtlis 

 of each genus, together with generic outline illustrations of the external 

 anatomy, will, we trust, enable even the tyro to refer correctly to genus and 

 species such specimens as may be collected, since the most Qharacteristic 

 parts will be found figured witli scrupulous accuracy. Copies colored i'rom 

 nature, both as to the lieads alone and the heads and full-lengths together, 

 M'iH be placed at the disposition of the public. 



The second volume of the ornithological series will he is.sued as soon as 

 possible, the illustrations liaviug been all drawn upon the wood, and a part 

 of them already engra\ed. 



All the illustrations introduced are from nature, and, with few exceptions,* 

 prepared expressly for the present work. The full-length generic figures are 

 by Mr. Edwin Slieppard of Philadelphia ; the lieads by Messrs. J. H. Eich- 

 ard and Henry W. ElUott ; the generic outlines by Mr. A. Schonborn ; the 

 latter engra\-ed by the peculiar process of Jewett, Cliaudler, & Co., of Buffalo. 



The larger portion of the engraving of this volume has been done by, or 

 under the supervision of, Mr. H. H. Nichols of Washington, and to his 

 artistic skill and fidelity to nature the work is largely indebted for its value 

 and attractiveness. A few excellent cuts have also been made by Mr. Heniy 

 Marsh of Cambridge. 



J. D. WHITNEY. 



Ca.meridge, M.\ss., October 1, 1870. 



* A few generic figures, mentioned in the text as they occur, were kindly furnished by the 

 Loudon Society for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge. Some others also were prepared for 

 an unpublished work by Professor Blasius on tlie birds of Germany, and obtained from Messrs. 

 Vieweg and Son of Brunswick. 



